


Silent Ever After

by Abarekiller



Series: Silent Ever After Series [1]
Category: Ever After High, Silent Hill (Video Game Series)
Genre: Blood, F/F, Psychological Drama, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-07-27 10:46:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7614982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abarekiller/pseuds/Abarekiller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cerise has been having a hard time sleeping, but now she finds herself in a world that she doesn't quite understand. What do these two things have in common?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Start at the beginning

No clouds; the moon was out in all of its full glory tonight. A breeze quietly made its way through the small town of book end as all inhabitants nestled in for the night.

Ever After High stood quietly watching over the small town, waiting for the next chapter of a new story that was called “Tomorrow.”

Cerise leaned against the window sill of her dorm room; chin resting on her hand, she was looking up at the night sky; just watching the stars high above. She enjoyed the feeling of the chilling air hitting her bare body, it reminder of her time when she and her father would go to the mountains.

It was another sleepless night for her, like many of the past few days she had found herself.

She shifted from her left hand to her right as she looked from the stars to the trees, watching the branches and leaves as they danced in the wind.

Under normal circumstances, a protagonist would be lost in their own thought; perhaps collecting their thoughts on their experiences from the past few of years since attending this prestigious school.

This was not one of those situations. Cerise just stood there, just staring off into space; her forearms getting slight goosebumps from the gentle breeze.

She jumped slightly as she felt something drape down over her shoulders.

            “Kitten…” a soft voice spoke from behind her, “What are you still doing up? It’s cold.” She wrapped her arms around Cerise’s neck, unlike her mate; she hated the cold.

            “Sorry, Kitty; didn’t mean to wake you.” Cerise shivered slightly as the felt the friction of body heat against hers.

            Kitty laid her head on her shoulder, pressing their bare bodies closer together, “Everything alright?”

            “Yeah, everything is fine,” Cerise stretched her head to the side, feeling the other woman nuzzling against her neck. “Just couldn’t sleep is all.” She shivered once more as she felt the other girl’s hands gently caress her arms.

            “You need to come on back to bed.” Kitty continued rubbing her hands down the her arms, “We don’t need you to be getting sick in this kind of weather,” she said wrapping her arms around to the front, “It’s not good for neither of your health’s.” she placed her hands on Cerise’s abdomen.

            Cerise placed her hand on top of her love’s, “yeah,” she smiled softly, leaning her head back; placing a small kiss on her other’s cheek.

            Kitty quickly pulled her love back around, face to face, bare bodies pressed against each other, their eyes inter-locking – staring at Cerise; that made her question if Kitty was “more wolf than she was?”

            “Now, how about letting me warm you up, kitten?” she smiled hungrily at her mate, her hands intertwining in the black and white hair.

            She pulled them both closer, her lips started to consume the other. At first Cerise was taken aback, but her hands instinctively reached up to grab the back of the other’s neck - not wanting to be on the defense, she went on the offense.

            Hungrily, the two animals attacked one another; both of them getting a taste of one another – something that they were all too familiar with.

            Kitty nibbled at the scarlet lips in front of her before she pulled away. With a mighty thrust, she pushed her other back.

            Cerise fell to the mattress behind her with a small bounce; the young hood looked back up at her assailant, whom was just hovering over her with the hungry eyes she has come to love.

            With her trademark Cheshire smile, she just looked at the tasty platter that was sprawled out before her. Cerise squeezed her eyes tightly before opening them both wide – revealing the golden eyes she had inherited with a wicked grin of her own.

            The cat pounced on her prey.

 

**Hey have you heard?**

**Heard about what?**

**About the stories.**

**What stories?**

 

            The hooded young woman spat into the sink; grabbing a plastic cup next to her, she filled it with water and rinsed out her mouth.

            She spit once again. Looking into her own reflection, she carefully wiped away any residue from her mouth. If there was one thing about her endeavor, that she did not enjoy, it was the morning sickness.

Like the rest of the school at night that were quiet - the bathrooms were no exception. The only form of company that the young wolf had was the consistent flow of water that came from the sink.

Cerise shivered as the wet chill of the water splashed against her cheeks. She looked into the mirror. The eyes that looked back at her told the story of a young girl that wasn’t getting the sleep that was required for one, let alone for two. These nights these past few nights have been sleepless; draining away at her during the day. Why her body did this, she didn’t know.

She sighed.

There wasn’t anything she could do in this situation, but try to get some sleep; and did she ever want some sleep.

Cerise turned to leave.

But she stopped.

Something was wrong.

Someone was staring at her.

Cerise turned back to the bathroom sink.

She went wide-eyed.

**The Story of the lady in the mirror!**

Someone was looking at her. Someone in the mirror was looking at Cerise. She stood there alone in the reflective glass; Cerise’s reflection wasn’t even present.

She held her breath. She couldn’t move.

A young woman with blond hair was staring at her with an empty stare. She had hollow eyes that seemed to be staring past Cerise; as if she wasn’t even there. Her face itself was featureless, like it was some sort of mask. In fact, it cracked. It cracked just like it was a mask. The cracks started to spread. She was literally cracking.

Cerise just stood there watching, watching as the cracks in the woman’s skin started to spread; reaching out to the edges of her face.

She covered her mouth.

And so did the reflection.

There was another crack.

The split in the woman’s face started to crawl itself off of her and made its way onto the mirror itself; as if the sudden movement of the strange woman was the reason for the glass to start breaking.

**Never look the woman in the eyes.**

Cerise could only watch.

She watched as the cracks in the mirror reached the sides of the mirror.

She winced in pain; a searing pain digging into her hand. She looked down.

A large shard of glass had pierced her skin; a large gash trailing the side of her hand.

Every fiber of her being was telling her to run out the room, but she couldn’t. She had to look. She looked back towards the woman in the reflection. One wouldn’t need high level of sensitivity to see an empty spot in the mirror that was currently missing a piece.

The cracking grew louder.

Her senses were screaming at her to run, but she couldn’t move. She was frozen in fear.

Then it happened, she never heard the explosion.

The shards of glass erupted from the wall.

Cerise could feel every piece of glass as it breached her skin. She could feel every stab as her senses were being over loaded.

She had no time to react; her entire body was being assaulted. It was like she was being skinned alive. She could feel every shard of glass cutting into her like surgical knives. They were slicing her up like a silent tornado ripping at her flesh and blood.

No.

It wasn’t that they weren’t making a sound.

The sudden pain striking the side of her head told her that she no longer had ears. The initial impact wasn’t directed at her body, but instead it had struck her at her ears first – removing them before the sound of the explosion could reach them. She was deaf.

Finally, her body registered the pain. The pain started to rip their way through her nerves. It was worse than anything she had felt.

She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came.

She was silenced.

The onslaught of glass pelted her in the face, ripping away at her nose as well as at her gaping maw. She could feel the sharp mirror shards as they cut away at her insides; tearing away at all corners. If her tongue had survived the onslaught, perhaps she would have tasted the bile of soupy texture that was once could her mouth – a type of soup that had not only glass, but broken pieces of teeth as ingredients.

To scream, she needed air, but now she need to breath - so that she wouldn’t drown, her body forced itself to swallow. The pain of her flesh being washed away into her esophagus was only to the icing on the cake to what she could already feel. She could feel the little strands of meat pulled into her throat as they clinged to what were now the raw remains of her mouth.

Oh god, why did she swallow.

She could feel every drop of blood, flesh, teeth that washed down into her gullet. She could even feel the shards rip away at her insides. So now that not only was she being pelted from the outside, now she was being torn apart from the inside. What about the child? She could feel herself wanting to vomit what was part of her own body.

She could almost feel the pain itself numb out her senses. Perhaps this is what death felt like.

Touch.

Hearing.

Taste.

Smell.

These were four of the five senses of a person’s body.

Cerise’s opened her eyes again, only to watch as glass shards ripped away into her skull. The darkness consuming her; the last thing she remembered was the gaze of the blind woman staring at her.

Then there was nothing.

…

…

…

“It’s time to wake up.”

Cerise slowly opened her eyes, the morning light started to chase away the darkness.

From the way everything seemed from her perspective, it was morning again. The nightmares were once again over. At least it was for that night.

Cerise laid there, arm draped over her forehead. She laid there watching the ceiling as her groggy mind started to lose its haze. Her body was sore, tired from another restless night.

She started to wonder where Kitty was. Normally, she would be nuzzling up into her neck; trying to get out of reach of the sun’s rays; but now it was quiet.

A little too quiet.

Now that she thought about it, now that her mind was clearing up, the ceiling looked somewhat off; but her body wasn’t going to let her think on it as her stomach started to flip flop.

Quickly as she could, she quickly rolled over the side of her bed and emptied the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

A moment later, she was breathing heavily. She wiped away at the residue that was leftover on her mouth.

Then it dawned on her. The floor board; the floor board she was looking at was not the same that was in her and kitty’s room. She wasn’t even lying on a bed, but instead of a sofa.

With sudden realization, she quickly stood to her feet.

She was no longer in Ever After High’s dorm room.

The room that she had found her standing in was a log cabin. There was a small sofa –that she had awaken up on; a recliner next it and a small fire place on the other side of the room.  She was most definitely not in her bed room.

Then there was the haze. The haze that Cerise had thought was a part of her groggy mind; but instead it was actually a part of the atmosphere. A type of haze that washed out all the color in the room, aside from the content that she had expelled from her stomach; everything seemed to be in a type of grayscale. It almost felt like her vision, her senses, were being clouded.

“Where am I?” Cerise asked herself. She needed to find her bearings.

She walked the house.

…

There wasn’t much to the log cabin. It seemed to house a family: two parents and two children - nothing really out of the ordinary. As her vision started to adjust to the cloudy haze about her; she started taking notice about her surroundings.

There were picture frames that were aligned the sides of the halls; empty of any content. There were blank pieces of papers that littered the hallways. There were cobwebs in the corner of every ceiling. She could see sections of the log cabin that seem to literally fall apart as it started to rot away.

This place had been abandoned a long time ago.

Cerise stopped at the entryway into the kitchen; placing a hand on the door frame she just looked into it.

The haze that filled the air complimented the, what Cerise assumed, was the morning sunlight. The kitchen, though dusty and worn out, reflected that of something that was loved and attended too; even if those that lived in this house no longer here, one could tell much love was put into it.

Cerise leaned herself against the doorframe; taking in a melancholic sight before her. That was until she felt that the door frame itself was a little…rough.

Looking beside her, she started to inspect it. There were several marks scratched into the side of the frame; there both seemed to be claw marks as well as what seemed to be cuts made by a knife. There were a couple of words written, but Cerise couldn’t make them out; they were sliced through by the knife marks.

She studied the indents much carefully, something was odd. The claw marks started to wrap themselves around the door frame, and she followed. She followed as they lead her onto the wall of the kitchen; they were leading her to something bigger.

Cerise was finding herself staring at a cluster of claw marks indented at the wall. Now as she was looking at them up close, there was a pattern. It dawned on her that something was written in claw marks.

She took a few steps back, finding herself leaning onto the kitchen table. She read out what the indents was saying.

**“The Story must be re-read”**

What did this mean? What story? What was it talking about? What did it have to do with her? Why was she there? But she didn’t have time to think of these answers.

Her animal instincts kicked in.

Someone was watching her.

Eyes of gold, she snapped back to snarl at the person that seemed to threaten her.

There was no one there, just a window with fluttery worn out drapes blowing in the wind.

Cerise started to find herself calming down.

  Whatever it was that was staring at her was gone, but now there was something else that had caught her attention. Without taking her eyes away, she made herself around the table; bringing herself closer to the center of her attention.

It was a mask. A bronze mask shaped into a wolf’s face.

Cerise recognized it. It was something her father had shown her many times. Like the red hood that she wore from her mother, the wolf mask was something passed down generations and generations of “Bad Wolfs,” as Bad Wolf told her. It was type of family heirloom; and like her, it was the only thing whose color wasn’t washed out by the haze. She reached out for it.

Weighing it in her hands and studying over it, it was most definitely what her father had shown her before. Why was it in this house? What was she doing here? Where was this place? But again, her thoughts were interrupted.

Cerise’s ears picked up a faint wolf’s howl, coming from not far. She turned to the kitchen door from the direction that she heard it, she tried to listen closer.

There was something else she was hearing, something different from the wolf’s noise. She listened carefully.

It was a child’s voice. That meant that she wasn’t alone here - wherever “here” was.

Cerise hood hooked the wolf’s mask to her waist, if it truly was what her father had shown her – for whatever reason, it was here, with her. It must have some importance. She quickly made her way to the front door. She needed answers.

She opened the door.

If the gray scale haze hurt her eyes in the log cabin, then what was outside assaulted her senses. There was dense fog that had settled itself into wherever Cerise had found herself in. Looking in all directions, she couldn’t see more than a mere few feet; she could barely make out what seemed to be an outline of another house that was barely next door.

Where was she? Where was this place? What is this place?

She continued to ask herself these questions. Over and over again in her head she asked.

That voice. That voice of a child she heard from earlier. She swallowed her fear and anxiety.

Cerise walked off into the dense fog.


	2. Run, Run, Run

Cerise made her way through the dense fog.

She had awoken in a small village; though there were several houses, there was no life. This place she had found herself in was barren. She reached for another door to another small house.

It was locked.

Just like every other house in this place, trying to keep her out; the doors were jammed shut. She started to walk the side of the house, looking for any other door or any other window. She found a window, but she didn’t try to open it – as like the others she tried to open, knew that it was sealed tight. Rubbing away at the grime on the glass, she peered inside.

The inside, it was just like every other house. Looking through the window, she saw the exact same set up from her the house that she woken up in. The same type of sofa against the wall, the same table set in front of it, the same exact fire place. Everything in this small village looked the same to her.

“Where is this place?” Cerise asked herself; scratching at goosebumps that started formed on her arm; the cold chill of the dense fog she had found herself in crawling itself up her skin like a spider. She shivered as she wrapped her hood tighter around her body.

CRACK!

Cerise snapped her head back.

To say that the fog itself was the densest thing that she had ever experienced would have been a lie. As Cerise made her way closer to the sound - as she made her way inch by inch - she could feel her heart start to race.

Surrounding the small village was a forest; at first glance from a few feet away, only a few trees are visible - but as one would come closer; one would be able to see forest behind it; inch by inch it seemed that forest itself was more denser than the fog, or perhaps that the fog in itself was too afraid to reach go inside.

“What is this?” Cerise pinched her nose; it was starting to grow more and more fouler as the closer she got to it; but the curiosity inside of her was bottling up. She had to see exactly what was in the woods that not even the fog would even reach.

She placed a hand on the closest bark.

Then there was another “cracking” noise coming from within.

“Stay away…”

That voice? Removing her hand from the bark, she started to look around, trying to find the source. All she could see was the fog and the outline of the closest cabin. Cerise was all alone.

“That voice? Was that…” but she had no time to ponder as her ears started to pick up another voice.

It was the child voice from before, the one that lead her to the outside; lead her to the small town, to see if there was truly anyone else in this strange place.

Cerise closed her ears, concentrating; cupping her wolf ears, she tried to focus her hearing to the source of the small voice. It seemed to be singing a tone, a happy tune at that – it felt almost other-worldly as it seemed to offset the setting that Cerise herself had found herself in.

“That way.” She said as she headed into the direction of the source; unnoticing the hot air that started to stir in the air behind her.

“la…la…la…” Cerise continued to follow the child sound, but as she walked she still kept an eye of the surrounding.  As she continued forward, she took notice that what outlines of what she could make of houses started to slowly dwindle in numbers. Had she been getting closer to the entrance of the village? She asked herself, but the further she went; the further her heart started to race.

As she started to make her way out of the small village, she started to find herself on a path; but as she made her way down the pathway, she could feel her surroundings start to collapse in on itself – the road itself was growing narrower and narrower as she went along it. That wasn’t what frightened her. No, what scared her was what was getting closer.

The forest itself was growing closer. The forest clad in its own density was nearing closer to her, inch by every dreadful inch.  Cerise didn’t know what it was about this forest, but she could feel her heart pounding in her throat - she knew whatever it was it was bad news.

Snap!

There was something in that forest; it was close, but no matter how hard she looked, the thickness of the trees were not allowing her to see it.

Crack!

There it was again, something was moving in there. Her instincts were telling her not to stop, and there was no way Cerise was going to disobey this; but she could not turn her gaze away.

Snap! Crack! Crunch!

The sounds came in rhythmic timing, but there was something even worse than that. They were not going away; they were keeping pace. Whoever it was, whatever it was, that lived in the dark forest was keeping pace with her. It was watching her, as she tried to see it, following her movement.

Cerise started to panic, but she kept moving forward – if she were to stop, surly it was going to jump out at her, she needed to keep it where it belonged, at a far enough distance to keep herself safe.

That wasn’t going to last long as the trees continued to close in on her. Whatever it was that was hunting her like prey was getting closer to her, inch by ever dreadful inch.

“la…la…la…”

Cerise turned her gaze back to the front.

She was now in a clearing.

“Wait…what?” Cerise, surprised, found herself back in the midst of the dense heavy mist. She turned to look behind her.

The forest was gone. The sound of the creature hunting her was gone. In an impossible feat, she found herself back in the grayscale, just like the little town she had woken up. The dense forest that she feared for unexplained reasons was nowhere to be found. For the time being she was safe. Or at least what would be considered as “safe” in this situation.

“La…la…la…”

Cerise turned around, now the faint singing was even closer. She made her way towards the sound. She needed answers.

As she got closer, she started to make out a small outline starting to take form in the fog. Cerise was taken back as she etched nearer.

Aside from herself and the wolf mask she had found, this person that she came upon was the only bit of color that was in this world of greyscale. She approached the figure closer.

It was a small child sitting on a ground; she wore a big red bow on top of the large violet hair that draped down her head. She was busy singing her song as if she didn’t notice the world around her. Sitting right next to her was a basket.

Cerise took a single step closer, hoping not to frighten the small child.

“Hello?”

The small purple haired child turned to look at her. “HI!” she smiled gleefully. Cerise took note that the child had blue eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Cerise asked as she etched a little closer. “What are you doing out here, alone?”

The child smiled, “I’m waiting for my mama.”

As she heard that, cerise let out a sigh of relief. “That means there are others…”

The purple haired looked up at her in confusion. “I don’t get it?” she cocked her head.

“It’s nothing.” Cerise shook her head as she came closer to the child.

“Your strange, maam” the child said with a laugh.

Cerise laughed as well, she hadn’t laughed since she arrived in this strange place. She got down onto her knees so that she could be on the same level as the little girl.

“So when is your mother supposed to be here?” Cerise asked.

The young purple haired child looked up at her in confusion, but answered her anyways. “Don’t know.” She said without a doubt.

Now it was Cerise’s turn to be confused. “Well, when did she leave?” she said, trying to return the mood back to normal.

The young girl shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know.” No worries in her tone, as if this was scripted.

Cerise could feel her heart sink for the child. “When was the last time you saw your mother?”

“Never!” she said with a smile on her face.

Cerise was taken aback by this response. How could this child be like this when she was clearly alone? “Are you okay?”

The child turned to look at Cerise in the eye. “I don’t understand, what do you mean?” She said with confusion.

As she looked the child, she could see the glassy gaze she was getting. As if the child wasn’t all there, as if she was not seeing the world as it really was.

Cerise wanted to hold this child close to her, to never let go; but she stopped. A part of her felt like she didn’t have the right to comfort the child.

A wolf howled.

Cerise turned to look at the noise, but saw that the only thing that there was the seemingly endless void and the two of them.

“I have to go now!”

Cerise turned to look back at the child, but she was already missing from beside her. She turned to see the child running down in the opposite path of the noise.

“See you next time.” She smiled as she disappeared into the fog.

“Wait!” Cerise called out, but her voice fell on deaf ears. She was alone again. Well, technically not alone.

“What’s this.” She said standing up, picking up the thing next to her.

It was the basket that the child had left behind. Cerise had looked back into the direction the child ran off towards - She could no longer hear the sounds of her foot steps in the distance.

Cerise turned to look back the basket. It was just a normal basket, most definitely something new and fresher than anything that she had seen in the village before; but there was something etched on the lid.

**“Cast in shadows, you can only read onward…”**

Curiosity got the best of her.

She opened up the basket.

“What’s this?” she said pulling out something. It was a type of lamp, a bronze oil lamp to be exact.

“What is this doing in the basket?” she asked, studying the lamp over. She was the utmost confused – but she would soon realize it was for.

_DONG!_

The sudden noise caused Cerise to fumble as she dropped the basket onto the ground.

_DONG!_

Cerise started to frantically look around her, trying to find out where the source of that noise came from. It sounded like it came from all sides around her, assaulting her hearing.

_DONG!_

Cerise could now feel her heart start to throb the inside of her throat.

_DONG!_

What was going on? What was happening? Cerise didn’t know, but she felt inside of her that it wasn’t anything good.

_DONG!_

Cerise felt her breath catch in her chest.

_DONG!_

And like someone blowing out the candle; the world was engulfed in shadows.

Pitch darkness, not even a single soul of light. Like an abyss, devoid of any life. The type of shadows that would leave you breathless as you stared off, trying to find any form of comfort; only to find out just how alone you are.

Then there is a flicker of light, the only type of safe haven in this hell; as a lone figure stood in the pitch black.

“W-where am I?” Cerise asked as she held the lamp out in front of her; but as she did, she could only feel her heart sink. Despite the shining light that she held in her hand; darkness surrounded her very being.

It probably felt worse than being in the darkness itself; it was that feeling that you get when you shine a light into the night sky and seeing nothing – that sense of dread you feel when you gaze into an endless abyss. That was what Cerise felt like she was staring into - she felt like she was staring into the abyss.

Despite the fact that it seemed that the light illuminated Cerise’s entire being, it only reached out but a few feet in front of her, it seemed to never penetrate the darkness. She could feel the goosebumps racing up her arms and spin as she tried to look deeper and deeper into the void; only to see nothing.

Where was she now? She thought to herself, feeling her breathing becoming heavier as she could hear the sound of her heart beat as it throbbed against her chest.

“Hello?” she called out.

If there was one consistency between these two “states” that this world, wherever she was, had, it was the feeling of complete isolation.

Cerise took a step forward.

_Krrrsssh!_

Her ears twitched, she lowered her head to see what she had stepped in. The first thing that she had taken notice was the coloring. Before, the path that she had once found heself on was a trail of grass in grayscale. Now the ground was a rustic color of red, but really caught her eye was the texture.

The light in itself didn’t reach far, the ground included. What Cerise could see, she could see it was kind of lumpy; something that was outside of the norm even for this world she would assume. She reached down to touch it, she regretted it.

What she touched was not solid. It felt spongey. The texture in itself felt familiar to the young girl, but at the same time completely alien. She pinched at the ground; it wasn’t a solid. She pulled at the clump, wedged in her index finger and thumb, and with a stringy, clingy, substance; it was pulled free.

Curiosity got the best of her. She brought it up to her face and took a sniff.

Just the mere smell of it forced the young girl backwards, sending her back into the darkness; bottom first into the fleshly substance.

 _Krrrsssh!_ Hands placed on the ground beside her, she tried to pull herself up; but the rafting stench of decay now clinged to her nasal cavity. The rotten smell lingering in her system, she could feel her child trying to flip-flop from the stench. She was shaking all over her body.

She sat there, on the ground, surrounded by the stench of rotten flesh.

Cerise pushed herself off the ground as quickly as she could muster; the feeling of the squishy-flesh like substance clinging to her body as she stood up. She wanted to empty out the content of her stomach, but she knew that she needed to get out of here. Wherever it was that this darkness was.

Cerise stood there in the darkness, the lamp back in her hand; she looked for a way. A path that might be off in the distance; something that could be used as a way point; something that could be used to get her bearings. She looked deeper.

There was nothing.

She was standing there, all alone.

No.

Wait.

She wasn’t alone.

The pressure in the bleak atmosphere started to become heavy, Cerise’s body started to shake under it. Her instincts were trying to tell her that something was wrong, that there was something in the darkness.

Shakingly; she turned to look behind her, to see what exactly it was that was causing her such misfortune. Something itself that was coming closer; she looked behind her.

There was no one.

She closed her eyes, blocking out what little bit of light she had – listening closer to the empty abyss that surrounded her. Hoping to get some kind of indication of what was causing her to freak.

She heard nothing, nothing but the throbbing of her heart in her throat.

Her breathing was getting heavy, she felt her head swimming. A part of her was screaming to run, but her body wouldn’t decide on to rather “Fight or Flight.” She couldn’t move. She just stood there, looking into the darkness that was behind her; listening to anything that would give her the adrenaline to move her body.

_Quuuurrrrssssshhhhh!_

Flight it was.

Without even a second thought, Cerise bolted into the opposite direction. Something was most definitely in the darkness. She ran into the direction that her body was telling her to run.

_Quuuurrrrssssshhhhh!_

Lamp tightened in her fingers as she ran, she could feel the dread as it washed over her body. There was something, something that wanted to hurt her. Something she couldn’t see. All she could do was run.

_Quuuurrrrssssshhhhh!_

“Oh Godmother!” hand covering her stomach, Cerise cried out as she ran through the darkness – the red of her cloak, the only viable visual in the sea of darkness, fluttered in the soulless wind.

_Quuuurrrrssssshhhhh!_

The sound of a massive form stepping on the non-solid road of rotten flesh, the unnerving noise it made as it rang through Cerise’s skull. She didn’t want to end up like the rustic stringy substance that was more than likely getting caught in whatever claws of the beast that was following her. She didn’t want to die here. Not here in the darkness. Not alone.

She Ran.

_Quuuurrrrssssshhhhh!_

She could feel her emotions build up inside, she could feel that it was getting close to the end for both of them. Her child was going to die before it was born, and it was going to be her fault.

She ran.

_Quuuurrrrssssshhhhh!_

She reached out; hoping for something to be there for her to grab.

_Quuuurrrrssssshhhhh!_

She felt her hand reached something. Next thing she knew, her body was slamming against something in the darkness. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew she could only go forward. So she ran with all her might.

The wooden door opened. She ran inside.

Though was no time to think, she quickly turned and grabbed the wooden door; slamming it with all of her might. She slammed her body against the door; hoping to prop it with all her might – begging to herself that it would be enough to keep the predator out. She waited for the inevitable collision.

Silence.

Cerise could feel her heart racing miles a minute; no way was this type of pressure good for her health.

Silence.

Cerise could hear her breathing, echoing through what she assumed was some kind of small shack. She was waiting for the beast to rip down the walls around her.

There was nothing but complete and utter silence.

She was getting frantic; the beast was just waiting her out – to see which of them was going to move first. Like a cat playing with her dinner.

But nothing came.

She could feel the emotions start to well up in her eyes; as if the entire situation had finally dawned on her. All she could do was run.

She started to cry. She let her body fall against the door.

“Dad…”

Her body started to slide down the wooden frame.

“Mom…”

She fell to the ground. It was the only thing she could do.

“I’m scared…”

She hugged her knees to her chest. She was trying to comfort herself.

“Someone…please, anyone…”

She cried. She cried because it was all she could do. She just sat curled up against the door and cried. She felt like a child again, so small and defenseless.

She was scared. She hadn’t felt this scared in a long time.

All she could do was run.

She just let out her emotions. Though she learned that she couldn’t just sit there; it wasn’t just her anymore.

Cerise clung her hand to her stomach, as she tried to gather up the energy to stand again. Placing a hand against the wooden door as a prop, she got herself, slowly back to her feet.

Leaning over, breathing heavily; she didn’t know if she was going to vomit, but she continued to heave. Her mind was starting to clear. Leaning her body over, she could feel as the sweat dripped down her body; dripping from her hair that tried to cling to her body. She could feel as her cloths were starting to get soaked.

Revealing her ears, she pulled back her red hood. It wasn’t much, but now at least she was getting what little air she could to circulate through her body; hoping to dry off as little as she could; before she decided what her next plan of action was.

_Krack!_

Eyes wide, Cerise turned back to the door. That thing was back. She could feel as the anxiety again crept its way through her body. She could already feel the beast breathing down her neck. She leaned her ear closer to the door, to get a better idea of where the beast was at.

_Krack!_

“No, something’s wrong…” Cerise wasn’t able to know why, but something was different now. Right now…

_Krack!_

Her eyes widen in fear. The noise itself wasn’t coming from outside.

_Krack!_

Shakingly, Cerise turned to look over her shadow. She looked into the shadow of the small shed she had found herself in.

The noise was coming from inside.


	3. Darkness in the Corner

Cerise started to panic.

There was something in the room; something else was in the building with her. Was it the thing from outside? No, no way it could have gotten in here without her noticing – there was no way she was going to let…whatever it was be in here with her, no way…

So what was in here with her?

Carefully, silently, cautiously; Cerise knelt down, slowly, for the lamp at her foot. She needed to see exactly what it was she was dealing with.

Bringing the oil lamp up to eye level, she allowed the light to illuminate. Unlike the cold outside world, the warmth in her hand could reach out. Though it wasn’t much, she could see exactly what she was getting herself into.

While the outside world was unknown to the young woman, she could see that she had found herself home to what she could assume was a small barn. Barn? No, it felt like more of a large tool shed. Moving her arms about, she started to scan the area, trying to figure out exactly what she was dealing with.

Like the homes earlier, the large tool shed was beginning to rot – years of neglect reflected on the contents that had been abandoned. Cerise took a step into the room.

Despite the age, it seemed like your typical shed. The garden tools in the small room lay about, broken and unusable for any kind of work. The chains that hung from the ceiling, rusted beyond use and would have probably have broken under any sort of pressure. As Cerise made herself closer and closer down into the small building, she could hear the disgusting sound as the rotted floor boards beneath her feet shift under her weight, just listening to the squishing sound it make started to churn her stomach.

Cerise made her way further and further into the small building, but stopped as her sensitive ears picked up on something – a buzzing noise.

Cerise was hearing what she assumed were flies, they had congregated into one side of the room. Looking over into the corner, she noticed of their buzzing; flying around over what seemed to be some kind of undistinguishable figure. She wanted to move closer, her curiosity told her to see what it was; but a piece of her told her to stay away or else.

Leaning her torso a bit forward, she sniffed the air. The air was stale, but there was a different smell the closer she moved to the flies. The part of her that told her to stay away won out in the end. Something she wasn’t meant to see was over there; she took a few steps backward as she put out her hand behind her to prop herself against a wall.

But her hand hit something. Cerise turned to look at what it was she bumped into, it was a table. No, something was different. Upon closer inspection, it was something that didn’t match that of the rest of the room.

It wasn’t a work bench like the young woman was expecting, instead it was solid stone table. There was indeed a buzz saw, broken teeth, in the middle, dried up trails of what seemed to blood. On each corner, there were chains and shackles.

This table was used to hold something down, to cut into it.

It was like some kind of alter.

Cerise could feel her child doing flips in her stomach; she needed to get out of there - if not for her own sake, but for the sake of the child.

There was something written in the stone table.

**“Unable to see clearly, it becomes blinded…”**

_Krack!_

No, it couldn’t be

_Krack!_

Cerise had checked every spot, every inch of the place. She saw nothing, not a living soul in the room beside her. She should have been alone.

_Krack!_

So where was it? Where was it hiding? If it had been in here the entire time, why didn’t she see it?

_Krack!_

“It couldn’t be.” Cerise felt her heart leapt to her throat.

When searching through the world of light, there is always the one place a person never looks. Humans go where it’s safe, a place where they can see. They never look into the one place where only darkness resides. There was one place where people would never dare to look, the one place they never see.

Slowly, Cerise lowered her gaze. She looked down, into the corner of her eye.

It’s only natural that humans never want to look in the corner of their eyes; they never want to see the darkness that lies behind them.

Cerise’s breath caught, she saw it. There it was, in the one place that she never dared to look.

Where the darkness had accumulated, where the light of the oil lamp never reached – there in the corner of the room, away from all sight, something started to stir. Now that it had been seen, it started to move.

Never moving her gaze, not daring to lose sight of the monster in the shadows – she shifted her body, slowly, to be facing whatever it was in the room. As she did, the creature hiding moved, shifting its body as if to stay in the shadows; away from the light, away from the sight of the world.

Slowly, Cerise lifted her lamp higher and took a step forward, never taking of eyes out of the corner. Inch by dreadful inch, the darkness started to disperse as she moved closer to it. Then she saw it.

It wasn’t anything to be afraid of. It was a young pup, shaking in the corner – unthreatening, it shook under the gaze of Cerise. The closer she got, the more it tried to ball up into the corner, as if trying to get out of the sight of the light. The “kracking” noise seemed to be coming from it trying to push itself further and further into the corner of the room. It was cowering under the young woman’s gaze. It was scared beyond belief.

Cerise let out a sigh of relief; it seemed that she was getting tensed up for no reason. The young wolf pup was more frightened of her then she was of it.

She lowered herself down to her knees, trying to be on the animal’s eye level. Placing the lamp out to the side, she reached out her hands to show that she wasn’t a threat. “Are you okay?” she smiled at the young cub, “Come here, I’ll help.”

But you should never get close to a cornered animal. All someone has to do is let their guard down just once.

Cerise fell to the ground, searing pain running down her arm. The creature in the corner had lunged out, lashing out at anyone that got near it. She now had three marks on her arm, blood dripping out. Cerise quickly reached out for the lamp; searching, trying to find the monster that attacked her. This time, as she saw it, it wasn’t hiding.

The cub was now standing in the middle of the room, but now it was full grown – as if what the young girl had seen before wasn’t a puppy, but a full grown adult compacting itself into a tight ball; like someone crushing a can.

But now, it stood there, fully fleshed out. It stood there, fully grown. Its piercing eyes focused on Cerise, as if its eyes were on that of someone that threatened its lively hood.

Its face and body was riddled with cuts, with scars cut deep into its face - its black fur contrasting to the red of its flesh and the white of its bone protruding from its body. It stood there, hurt and damaged; but it wasn’t going to let Cerise out of the room.

The wolf let out a howl, Cerise had to cover her ears from the loud sickening boom of its voice.

It just dawned on her; this was the exact same howl that she heard from back in the village.

Then, without warming, it was gone, ran off into the darkness, away from the light of her lamp.

Cerise was panicking. Trying to ignore the pain in her arm, she started to frantically search the room with her lamp, to see where it was.

She saw it, another corner of the darkened room, but as quick as the light touched its fur, it was gone again. Cerise tried to pick up her body as quick as she could, still frantically trying to find the beast, before it was too late.

Again she saw it, but again it disappeared.

Cerise’s heart was beating miles a minute.

There it was

And off into the darkness.

It was like every time that Cerise could get the creature in line of sight, it was gone again – as if trying to avoid her gaze. Only when it was ready to pounced.

And it pounced from the darkness, where Cerise’s sight couldn’t reach. It lashed out, swiping at her.

It was only by animal instinct that Cerise was able to dodge the beast, but once again it was gone off back into the darkness.

She grabbed her arm, all the moving around was not what was needed right now; she could feel the warm thick wetness as it slipped in between her finger tips. The pain ripping through her system, she had no time to use her lamp.

And the Wolf lunged at her again, this time it struck at her.

Cerise cried out in pain as her body was thrown into the wall - hitting it hard, despite the softness of its rotting wooden frame. It was as if just by its sheer force weight alone almost found a way for it to dislocate the young woman’s shoulders. She could feel the warm wet trickle as blood started to trail down her arms. But she didn’t have time to think on that.

She couldn’t see it, but the beast was after her again; coming straight from the front. It leapt at her, her claws wanting to cleave off her head off her shoulders in one swoop.

Using what energy she could muster, Cerise threw her body to the side, causing her neck to be just out of reach of the beast – but its claws struck her back, claws digging down into her shoulder blades. Cerise screamed in pain as she hit something hard, something not bolted to the ground. The wolf returned to the darkness again, waiting for another attack.

Cerise tried to push herself back to her feet, but the pain in her back was not allowing herself to move. Her arms gave way as she fell back down to the ground, on top of something. She started to huff and puff in pain, her eyes looking out for the wolf that threatened her life. She needed to get out of there.

Then her ears picked up on something, there was buzzing in the air. It was the flies from earlier. Now, the noise was coming from directly above her. It dawned on her, where was she? What was she on top of?

Looking down, if it wasn’t for the loss of blood, her face would have lost even more color. She was laying on top of a corpse, a corpse rid of any semblance of human features.

The flesh ripped off and eaten; torn apart, bit by bit. The skin peeled off, no way to identify the figure of who or what it used to be. From the way its arms were position, from the way its body seemed to be twisted in agony, it seemed like it was still alive when it was being feasted on.

Cerise wanted to expel the contents of her stomach at the slight imagery in her head - had there been anything in her stomach.

The worst part?

The corpse itself was too small to be that of an adult, or a teenager.

It was the remains of that of a small child.

The sound of claw marks scurrying across the floorboards brought Cerise’s attention back to situation she was in. She couldn’t worry about the dead body.

But now, there was nothing she could do. She lied there on the small figure, her arms wouldn’t move. She couldn’t pick herself up, her shoulder blades felt like they would tear themselves out of her flesh if she tried to force herself back onto her legs. She no longer had energy to move – to run away.

She heard the dread sound as the claws hit the ground; it was now running at her. It all went by fast; a flash of light from her oil lamp flashed its fang, a piercing light in the dreaded darkness. For that split moment, Cerise could sense that now it was done playing, done hunting. It was going for the kill. There was nothing she could do.

Miraculously, her body moved. In that moment before her death would come, her body moved – to cover the corpse beneath her. She didn’t know why, why she was trying to use own body to protect something that was already dead.  Just something in her told her to protect what little bit was left, what little bit of light that was left in that darkness.

She couldn’t let the child become more hurt than she already was.

Clutching the body close to her body, she waited for the claws to cleave away at her life in one fail swoop.

_DING!_

It never came.

_DING!_

Death never came to Cerise.

_DING!_

She opened her eyes, curious to see exactly why her life hadn’t ended.

_DING!_

Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, what she saw shocked her. There it was, the wolf was standing in front of her; looking at her, watching her. Just standing there watching.

Then it started to take a step back, back into the darkness.

_DING!_

Wait, it wasn’t that Cerise’s eyes had adjusted to the blackness of the room, it was as if the darkness was fading – receding back to whatever hell that it seeped from. The wolf itself, as if only able to sustain itself in the darkness’ fold, followed suit – returning back into the corner from whence it came from.

_DING!_

Then suddenly, after all this time; all the pain, the blood loss, and the adrenaline finally hit Cerise. With a simple fade to black, her world turned to darkness.

…

…

_“CERISE!”_

_“HONEY!”_

_…_

_…_

With a cold shiver, Cerise’s mind started to return from the world of darkness. Slowly, she opened her eyes to a white glow in the room, almost blinding. If it wasn’t for the gray mist, or the deepest shadows, this would have been a beautiful way to waken up from a deep sleep.

She tried to push herself up off the ground; pain rocketed through her body, but more of stiffness than actual pain. It was as if body had grown accustomed the pain she had experienced the night before. Looking around the room, she was in shock.

She wasn’t in the same room as she was when she lost consciousness.

Yes, she was still in a tool shed of sorts, but it was much smaller. There was no way that this was the same place she was in before. There wasn’t any way she was able to move as much as she did the night before, there barely enough room for her – if she had stretched her arms out as far as she could, she would have touched both ends with ease.

Cerise’s eyes went to the corner of the room, nothing – there was nothing there. Nothing was hiding away.

She looked beneath her, there was no body. Instead, she had apparently found herself sleeping on a bale of hay.

Then she looked at the other side of the room, instead of the stone table from before, now there was just a regular work table…old, broken, and rotten to a point of being unusable, but it was just a normal table.

“What happened?” Cerise asked, trying to get up.

But then all the pain came back, as if now was the time that her nervous system decided it was time to wake up as well. Just as soon as she tried to get back to her feet, she just fell back down.

It wasn’t a dream, Cerise decided. What happened the night before really happened. Clutching her arm, trying to soothe the pain, she started to scan the room, trying to find something that could help.

Then something caught her eye, the one thing that was out of place in the room.

Underneath the work table was a box, a small white box. It had a red cross on the top of it from Cerise’s perspective. Was it a first aid kit? Why was a first aid kit here?

Cerise had no time to think about it, her body wouldn’t allow her the pleasure. She quickly flung out a leg, trying to reach the box with her foot.

On the first try, she was able to hook the handle.

Kicking it back to her, wincing in pain, she reached down to pick up the box. Shutting her eyes tightly, she opened the box, expecting something horrible to leap out, to lash out at her, something inside trying to kill her.

Nothing came.

Cerise opened her eyes, carefully taking a peak into the box. It was indeed a first aid it. There wasn’t much in regards to a good recovery such as way to stitch herself up, or disinfect her wounds. But there were some essentials for a quick fix-me-up, though for the equivalent to barely fixing a dog’s chew toy so it could play with it. Nothing perfect, but sustainable.

But what grabbed Cerise’s attention was a bottle - a bottle with a blank label, and some kind of indistinguishable liquid inside. She was unsure of it from first glance, but she opened it. One sniff, and she wanted to throw it across the room, to rid of it with its putrid, rotten smell; but the pain in her body was telling her to not let go.

Shutting her eyes tightly, Cerise drank.

The thick glob that could have been described as a texture of the world’s finest rotten fish overrode her senses, the metallic taste touching her tongue enough to regurgitate whatever it was that she had in her system.

As it filled it mouth with its rotten stench, she could feel as the tears started to flow from her eyes. But she didn’t spit it out. It tasted like the foulest toilet.

Her body told her to never spit it out, something told her to swallow.

And she swallowed.

And she regretted every bit of it. The way it moved down was like that of a slug trying to force its way down into her stomach. So thick and so putrid, Cerise couldn’t even breath. Her whole body was shaking, waiting as every ounce in the bottle washed away into her gullet.

The horrible experience finally passed. The next thing to happen was?

Nothing.

Nothing else happened.

Cerise was fine.

She blinked; eyes wide at the fact that – that the pain was gone; the stiffness of her body was at ease. If it was still for all the dried blood and claw marks on her body, she would have never been able to tell that she was even in pain.

She got up from the floor, energy had returned to her body – refreshed.

Cerise stood, box in hand. Looking into its content, she saw that there were some gauze bandages to use to wrap her wounds.

Placing the first aid-kit onto the tool table in front of her, carefully, she reached for her hood to remove it.

She started to take off her shirt.

Moments later, Cerise had hooked her hood back around her neck. The gauze bandage rolls applied to her body – wrapped down around her arm where the claw marks were, and then there were those that wrapped around her torso and shoulder’s. Red spots were beginning to form where the bandages were pressed up against her opened wounds – everything was uncomfortable - but for now this was going to have to do.

Now the first aid kit was empty, there was nothing else left; As if just enough for a one time use – not even enough for a little extra.

Cerise looked at the empty box, “Why would this be here?” she questioned to herself. Out of all the odd things in this strange place, this was probably the oddest. For what seemed to be a world meant to go out of its way to kill her, it left her something to help her heal – sure, it was basically a shoddy patch job, but it was something.

“Was it that purple haird girl?” she questioned herself. Had the little girl with the red ribbon come by while she was out of it and dropped it off before she woke up? But why would she have done that for her? Perhaps there were others in this world, others like her and the purple haired girl. Perhaps Cerise wasn’t alone after all.

A slight shiver ran down Cerise’s spine. For the first time, she noticed the crystals formed in the air as she breathed. Now she was finally taking notice of the fact that it was cold, freezing even.

Temperature was extremely low.

Wait, where was she? She had run into the tool shed the night before because she was being chased in the pitch blackness. She had no sense of where she was, all she knew was that she ran forward into the darkness – because she had nowhere else to run.

But now?

Cerise turned to the door, she could see the easy white light flowing into the room thanks to the cracks and holes created by the years of neglect.

She could feel her heart race as she looked at the door. Now, there was only one place to go, Cerise only had one place to leave. There was only one entrance and one exit to the small building. She had to go back out there; to face whatever it was that was out there waiting for her.

She knelt down, reaching down for the oil lamp. No use for it right now, just opposite of the wolf mask, she hooked it onto the side of her waist.

She reached out for the door, silently, her heart beating miles a minutes. She opened the door.

And the cold, white light started to flood inside of the building. She took a step into the cold, wet snow outside.


	4. Unwritten Page

With a cold chill that reminds you where you tread; it reveals your soul with every breath. It encompasses the beauty of heaven while reminding you the beauty of death.

It shows you the purity of the soul, yet shatters it easily with its silence. It is white as the light, yet it’s as cold as darkness.

It’s a wonderful winter wonderland, but yet it is as hollow as the Evil Queen’s heart. You need to be careful as you gaze into its beauty; because it can, and will, take you breath- your very soul- away.

Cerise stood there, amazed by the sight, from the pitch blackness of the darkness to the pure whiteness of the frozen tundra. It was like she had gone from one extreme to another, but yet deep down, they were practically the same.

The sound of the cold air ripped through her ears only the way that the cold silence could; it was noise, but worse than the complete utter deafening silence from before.

How could things be so different, yet be completely the same? She had to wonder.

A cold chill ran up her arms, she involuntarily scratched at her goosebumps. She could see her hot breath start to crystalize in front of her. She started to wrap her red hood around her arms, trying to conserve some heat – not so much to fight off the cold, but more for the young girl’s psyche.

In the darkness, you were never accustomed to your surroundings; being blind to what threatens you. In a way, the blackness leaves a calm and soothing feeling – allowing yourself to avert your gaze to the predicament you have found yourself in. In the snow-reflected light though, it was the opposite. You had the light shining; reminding you that there was no one else.

In the shadows, you can lie; but in the light, you had to face the truth.

Cerise closed her eyes, trying to find her center – trying to get her beating heart to settle down; but as she closed off the world, she almost felt sick to her stomach. Her other senses were trying to remind her of the place that she was at, and that there was no hiding from it.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes, the unsettling sight of the deafening tundra sending a shock down her spine.

Keeping her nerves, she turned back around to the door she had just walked out of, reminding herself of the situation that she had. And as she herself had woken up, nothing had matched up with the night before.

Behind her was a small shack, barely big enough to fit her; let alone large enough to compensate for her and the wolf. It was a tiny little building, old and worn out from the seasons of change reflecting its surrounding; it was shocking to find that it hadn’t already collapsed with Cerise inside.

Instinctively, Cerise reached for the door handle; but as her hand barely grazed the door knob, she quickly pulled back.

The door itself had frozen in place, a layer of ice keeping the frame in place; the light glistening through its structure, reminding history of its time and place.

“This…this isn’t right” Cerise said wrapping her hand in her hood, trying to fight of a possibility of frostbite. “I just came from inside,” she said looking into her reflection in the icy mirror in front of her. Then something stuck out at her.

There were cracks in the ice on the door, as if someone had pounded away – not to break out, but to break in. As she looked at the cracks, she noticed that it started to have a pattern - something that was natural occurrence having an unnatural effect. And just like in the old house she woke up in at the start of this, there were words written in the pattern.

**“Though it has lips, it can’t speak!”**

Cerise placed her hand on the door, but as soon as she did she pulled back as pain rocketed through her hand; as she did she looked into the palm of her hand.

Blood.

Then pain ripped apart in her head as she fell to her knees in the white snow; as if something was trying to force itself into her mind, piercing her brain – or something was trying to find its way out. Cerise screamed as if someone was trying to beat it into her; what it was, it was as if it was trying to get her attention.

And like that, just like the snow itself, the pain appeared and then it faded away; as if it was never there in the first place. If you were to ask her what the pain felt like, she wouldn’t be able to tell you – she remembered that she herself was in pain, but she could not described it.

And just like that, it was gone.

Cerise’s breathing became heavy, placing her hand on her forehead as if trying to get her mind to steady – the very contrast of her body heat to the empty coldness was most apparent; it was as if her entire body was almost literally fire in comparison.

“What the hell is this place?”

It was as if the entire setting that Cerise had found herself had finally caught up to her; as if the entire situation had been hidden to her, but now it was all crashing down on her – she could no longer hold back anymore. She was now in some relentless world, a cold lonely place that had been trying to kill her, to smother her, since she had been here; and it only now felt like it was dawning on her.

 _I have to get back home._ This was the only thought that came to the young girl’s mind. She had to find a way back to the school, to her mother and father. She couldn’t just stay here in…in _THIS_ place anymore.

Her pain finally subsiding, she, slowly, started to pick herself up off the white ground. The cold air, no this place, made her feel light headed.

Shaking her head, to clear her mind, she started to look around at her surroundings. Emptiness to the left, silence to the right – there was no sign for where the young girl should go. Her body shivered at the thought of her being lost in this forest forever; but now was not the time to think about that, she had a family to return to.

With no sign of where she needed to go, she decided to move forward. 

With the silence of the cold forest as her only companion, she made her way into the void; with only one thing left on her mind.

As the snow settled, the only thing that was left, the only thing that was a sign of Cerise’s existence, was the small red print that stained the pure white snow.

* * *

 

Cerise silently made her way through the pure tundra, the only form of companion was the sound that her steps made as the snow gave way under the pressure of her weight.

As she made her way down the path that she had chosen; looking around, she couldn’t help but feel a bit nostalgic. It reminded her of the time when she and her father would go camping in the snowy mountains, just the two of them. It was one of the only few times that the two of them could be what they really were, father and daughter.

It had been a long time since Cerise and the big bad wolf had gone camping though, it was prior to her entering Ever After High, where they had to be extra careful not to reveal whom they were to each other. Cerise’s heart sank, she wished she could take back those moments of her youth that she lost – if she could redo it all over again, she wouldn’t … at least, that’s what she thought.

She silently sighed to herself, her arm started to twitch. A piece of her wanted to run, to go as far as she could through the forest; perhaps it was nature, perhaps she herself just wanted to run. Like the days she did with her father as she ran through the thick woods, where it was just her and her family and no one else.

Her heart finally catching up, Cerise slowly opened her eyes, but what she saw was not what she was expecting.

For a moment, she wasn’t so sure, she thought it was her eyes playing tricks on her, but as she continued to stare had become certain that she wasn’t alone after all.

Though the detail was lacking to her from far away, she could most definitely see another figure off into the distance. It was that of another person, another human being, making its way through the woods. It’s back turned facing her; it was slightly slouched over as it made its way past trees. Judging by its broad shoulders, it was a boy, probably no older than she was.

Cerise smiled, for first time since she entered this place, she had finally found someone else in this forest. Perhaps this was someone related to the little girl with the red ribbon, she thought to herself. It didn’t matter though, now she no longer had to be alone.

She raised her hand into the air; the higher it went, the faster her heart rose. She opened her mouth to say something, to call out to the other person far off in front of her.

But nothing came out.

Cerise’s face sank.

 _Something’s wrong._ A familiar voice rang out in her mind. _You need to run._

She was confused, how could something be wrong? She didn’t sense any danger from the area; she didn’t sense any threat from the stranger before her. In fact, it was like she didn’t sense him…at…all…

Her heart sank even further.

Something was wrong; she didn’t know why, but whoever -whatever- that was in front of her, was not someone she should not cross. While her body, her senses, told her that he was no threat, something in the back of her mind was screaming to her the exact opposite.

She needed to get out of there, and fast. Carefully, she took a step back, not to attract any attention to herself.

As she put her foot down; her hope to escape, as well as the snow beneath her, were crushed.

The person, the thing, stopped.

Cerise held her breath, the very sudden change taking her by surprise. A part of her told her that if she had stopped breathing, then the creature would go away. She stood there, hand covering her mouth, as she watched the man in front of her.

He only just stood there. He wasn’t moving again. His actions did not tell the young girl that he knew where she was or even if she was still there.

Quietly, carefully, Cerise took another step away from the person, away from that thing; but as she did, the snow, as well as her bravery, gave way under the pressure as it gave off a near inaudible crunching sound.

The thing turned its head, looking over its shoulder.

Cerise had no time to react, whatever it was, it knew she was there.

Without even a second thought she bolted in the opposite direction.

As she ran, the sound of her courage as well as the snow breaking away echoed through the empty forest.

Cerise didn’t know how far and how long that she had been running; and at that moment, she didn’t care.

She stood there, her body leaning against the tree for support, trying to catch her breath. A bit in the back of her mind reminded her of the times she loved running in the forest, but now those peaceful times were gone, buried in the snow with the rest.

She had to escape, it didn’t matter how - she just had to. She was probably one of the fastest, if not the fastest, students at Ever After High. Whatever he was, whatever it was, it couldn’t have kept up with her. She had to have out run the thing, leaving it lost in the forest – forgotten.

Feeling her heart pounding away in the inside of her chest, she inhaled as she tried to gather as much courage as she could. Turning around, she looked to see if she could see it; looking back at it.

She let out a large audible gasp.

There were somethings that you could never hope to outrun.

There it was, just mere feet away; the thing, making its way towards Cerise.

That somethings, no matter where you go, it will always follow you. Always find you.

A corpse was the best way to describe it.

Washed out, as if it had been a forgotten film of memory, it trudge its legs forward – never looking back.  With a broken jaw twisted, it dared not to scream as if it had been tortured by the encompassing snow. Eyes as black of the darkness from before, blinding itself to the truth. Sides of his face collapse, as if to destroy in memory in its head. Flesh and bone, eaten away, rotted away, as time itself moved on without him.

He saw nothing. He heard nothing. He said nothing. This world made sure of this.

Time propelled him forward, yet he never did. He was just a walking memory of what he once was.

Cerise hid, it was the only thing she could do. She covered her mouth with her hands, as if trying to hide her very breath.

Fear welled up in the bottom of her heart as it pounded away the inside of her throat. She could feel the hot tears start to form in the corner of her eyes; it contrasted to the cold burning of her cheeks.

Was this what was going to happen to her? She couldn’t help but think to herself. Was she going to be lost? Forgotten in this forest? Just like –

_CRACK!_

Pulling its weight through the snow, dragging itself forward; what was at one point could have been called a human pulled itself past a tree; his very hand digging into its bark. Despite its fragile looking exterior, it was strong.

It was only a mere moment, but Cerise had seen the thing’s hand in her peripheral vision. Now she found herself on the ground, as she dodged purely on her reflex alone. She had never even sensed him getting close, let alone got close enough to strike at her.

Now, as she lay in the cold snow, body pressed up against the bark of the tree, she had gotten a much better look at the  thing that stood above her.

It’s flesh, or what seemed lack thereof, seemed to have rotted away by the age; Cerise could see the maggots inside of its body, also dead – eaten away by their very own.

As her eyes traveled up its face, she saw just how washed out the coloring the thing had become; as dried dark brown, almost black, had trailed down the sides of its head; from the empty eye sockets; to even the side of the jaw that had barely hanged on by a joint. Whatever had killed it, wanted to make sure he didn’t have use of its senses. Cerise also took note of the lack of crystals in the air, as it never once took a breath. It had no soul to show.

The very life taken away from it, plus that to the very cold nature of the snow, and you could feel a form of emptiness around it.

You could feel the coldness of death in the chilling air.

The creature started to “look” around. Despite the fact that Cerise was right underneath its non-existent clawed off nose, it didn’t even try to look her way.

She held her breath for the longest time, hoping toward the author that it was not going to turn its gaze downward and find her.

Its jaw slanted, unmaking any sound, as it turned again; turning his body back into a different direction.

Cerise, still holding her breath, watched as the creature moved. Silently as it stepped into the snow into the opposite direction from her; she could feel her whole body shake as it moved.

Had she not been looking at the creature, she would have never thought that it had left. It moved silently, its feet stepping into the snow, not even making a sound. Cerise watched, terrified, as it made its way into the dark forest, never making a single noise. She realized that she would never hear this thing coming at her, that hearing it, would be useless.

The silence of the creature was the scariest thing in the entire world.

Body shaking, Cerise watched as the thing disappeared into the thick white coated trees. Watching, as it took one step behind one and never appeared on the other side.

She tried to hold her breath longer, fear that the thing may hear her, but she couldn’t hold out much longer as she let out it all out.

She watched as the air reflected her soul.

Cerise was huffing and puffing, her entire body shaking from the ordeal. Fear washed over her as she tried to rub her arms with her hands, trying to return some warmth back to her body.

She looked back over to where the creature was standing, the worst part of the entire thing?

There wasn’t a single foot print.

Not a single sign that the thing was ever there.

All evidence pointed to one thing in her mind.

She was all alone. She was isolated. She was cold.

Cerise brought her knees close to her chest as she hugged them dearly. No, she did this not because of the sheer coldness, but because of the fear.

She silently cried.

* * *

 

Cerise trudged her way through the thick snow; as she saw, it seemed that the forest itself had no sense of time, but of course she had to continue going forward.

Body on maximum alert, she kept her eyes peeled. If her senses and her fine-tuned ears couldn’t pick up when the creature from before was near, she had to focus on using her eyes alone.

The forest, like the night from before had to have an ending, she thought to herself. She only just needed to find it. Yet everything continued on, it almost seemed like Cerise had started to go around in circles. Everything just seemed to look the same to her – despite the fact that each individual snowflake was different, there was no way she could tell them apart.

She turned a corner as she rounded a tree. She stopped in her tracks as her eyes became fixated on what she saw.

For the first time since the morning day broke, Cerise had found herself in a setting different than what she had been in. Now, Cerise had found herself in a snow covered clearing.

A beauty such as this would have reminded her of the times she would have spent up in the mountains, a place where she would have laid in the middle of the snow and watch as the flakes blanketed her face.

No, what drew her attention was what lied in the middle of the clearing. Cerise, silently and carefully, made her way out into the opening.

There, in the glistening light that reflected off the snow, was something that Cerise could tell from far away. Despite being coated in the frost and the moss from the age of wear and tear, she could never forget something like this.

She made her way closer, never taking her eyes off the stone. The closer she got, the colder she felt.

She knelt down in front of it.

It was a tombstone. It lay there, in the middle of the forest, old and forgotten.

Carefully, as if worried that she was going to wake the dead, she reached out towards, wiping away at the Gravestone. She wanted to see whose na-

It was blank.

Shock and confusion washed over Cerise. “What?” she asked, only to herself. She started cleaning over the tombstone in front of her, she wanted to see what the answer was, what it was that this world wanted from her. She wanted to know.

There was nothing.

It was just a simple grave marker, nothing else. No guarantee that there was even a body underneath it. To anyone else that would have walked by, it would have been just some rock – they never would have known.

The energy left Cerise’s body. She drooped down to her knees, just staring at the stone slab. For the first time since coming to the world, she finally found a clue – but it was nothing.

She could feel all hope leave.

_“You know, I feel bad for those that have a story to follow…”_

Suddenly, Cerise’s world turned upside down. In an instant, it had felt like she had been kicked in the head by a horse, sending hurtling into the air backwards.

Though the snow was soft, she hit the ground hard and fast. What had hit her had come out of nowhere.

Quickly, trying to pick herself up fast, she turned to the monster that had hit her.

There, standing between her and the grave stone, it’s back towards her, it was standing there; never once registering to her. She had dropped her guard once and it had easily backhanded her.

But it didn’t keep on its’ attack, even when it had the advantage, it just stood there.

The corpse was just standing there, looking at the nameless…

“Wait!” Cerise caught up, realized-

Faster than even Cerise could see, the corpse leapt at her; like a demon out for its revenge.

Quickly, swiftly, she dodged to the side, barely missing as the creature’s arm dug into the ground of where she had just been.

Fear coursed through her body. To take a direct hit from this thing was instant death. She took one step, and the snow broke way.

Ripping its arm out from the ground, he flicked away the snow and dirt that he accumulated, but it wasn’t done there; it ran towards Cerise, its arms lashing out.

It was strong, it was fast, but it was mindless. The corpse attacked with no rhyme or reason, it only knew that it wanted to deal out punishment. It wanted to hurt just like the way that it was hurt back then.

Cerise dodged each blow, she was getting pushed into the corner, but it wasn’t landing a hit. So long as she didn’t get a direct blow, she would be okay; but this thing didn’t seem to be slowing down. It knew what it wanted to do, it wanted to hurt her.

With every step it made and with every strike it, it did so without making a single noise. From its dead appearance its voice was long ago silenced just as his life was. Cerise had to fight this thing on sight alone, one wrong move and it would strike her in a blind spot.

Every step that she took, it was as if at that moment it was on her. Despite the fact that the side of its head had collapsed in, it was following every noise that Cerise had made. With the snow being everywhere, she could not move anywhere without making any noise.

It had only one thing on its mind, to hurt her.

Cerise only had one shot; she had to attack at the right moment. Dodging a swipe she quickly leapt into the air, her kick aiming right into what remained of the head in front of her.

But she didn’t see the left hook.

They struck each other simultaneous.

Cerise was sent flying. It was an indirect, but it still struck her hard into her unguarded stomach.

She hit the ground hard. Pain ricocheted through her body; her hands flew to her belly where she had been hurt. She screamed in pain, not only for her, but for the unborn child in her stomach. There was a chance th–

_“I’m sorry, that you have such a useless mother…”_

Cerise opened her eyes as she watched the demon leap at her. Of course, it was already dead; there was no way that a blow like that from her would have done it in.

The corpse leapt on top of Cerise, feet on either side. With an almost silent scream, it lashed out at her, hoping to rip her body open.

On mere reflex alone, Cerise was barely able to dodge it, but she was still in a bad spot.

The corpse swiped again, digging at the ground as Cerise kept trying to dodge each blow. As she dodged, it kept pulling up the snow around her, almost as if it was creating her own little grave.

Cerise tried to fight back. She was in no position to get an advantage, but she tried the best she could do. After every blow she dodged, she tried to return one of her own, but each time would barely affect him.

She tried her best to knock this creature of revenge off of her, but nothing she did was proving effective against it.

Then it happened.

In one fail swoop, the corpse grabbed her right arm wrist with his right hand, and with one sudden move, he pulled her arm towards him at an angle.

Fear filled Cerise’s eyes as the entire right side of her body had been opened. She watched in horror as the corpse’s left hand plunged into her neck.

With that, it was over.

With one hand wrapped around her neck, Cerise started to choke.

Then the right hand came to join the left hand at her neck.

She was now being strangled.

Both her hands, now free, reached for the wrists that threatened to take her life away, but there was nothing she could do. No matter how much she tried, they wouldn’t budge.

She choked audible as the very life was strangled out of her, she could feel the hands getting tighter each and every time she sputtered trying to breath, it was an endless cycle.

She tried to fight back, but it was fruitless. It was like a child going up against a monster.

Cerise could feel herself falling deeper, the more pressure the corpse put onto her, she could feel herself falling more into her own grave.

She was going to die here. In the cold, all alone and forgotten – this is what she deserved.

She could feel the very life in her body start to slip away.

She was going to die.

She didn’t want to die; she wanted to say the things that she wanted to say for the longest time.

She tried to fight back, to cling to life. She wanted to let her voice reach out.

But it was too late.

Her grip started to loosen.

She could feel herself fading.

She couldn’t say those words.

It was too late; it was too late to say them.

There was somethings in life; that you could never apologies for.

Her vision was beginning fade, life was just slipping away.

She could never take back what she had done.

Her apologies would have fallen on death’s ears.

Cerise’s hands slipped from the wrists that were burying her.

She had to accept it.

Cerise looked one last time at the corpse that had her life in his hands, what remained of her vision started to get blurry as snow started to cover her face, as she was being buried alive with what little life she had left.

Her body slowly started to shut down. She watched as the white light started to fade into the endless night.

She had accepted it.

* * *

 

As night turns into day, winter must also turn into spring.

Cerise opened her eyes. As she opened them, she found that she was no longer greeted with the cold light of the snow.

It had almost felt as if she had just woken up from hibernation.

Slowly, she sat up. The first thing that she noticed was that the snow was nowhere to be seen, that the forest was no longer around her.

Now, she found herself awake on what was an old dust trail road. With wooden fences on other side, it reminded her of a road from near her village.

But the fog was back, but now it was almost like a morning mist.

Cerise was shaking. She coiled her legs and brought them in close, trying to comfort herself, she rested her hand on her head.

She didn’t know if what had just happen been a nightmare or if it was real.

 _Crunch_!

There…was something in her hand. Cerise brought her hand to her face, inside was a crumpled up piece of paper.

Opening up the piece of paper, she looked over it, both sides, and re-

It was blank.

She didn’t know what it all meant, but something told her to keep it. Folding up the paper carefully, she placed it in her shirt.

Taking notice next to her, she saw that both the lamp and the mask were both there.

“Come on, Cerise…”

Cerise’s ears perked up, she looked onward into the mist, but she saw no one.

“Come on, hurry up slow poke….”

She couldn’t see anyone.

“Hurry up or we’re going to be late…”

Taking a deep breath, Cerise stood up. She had no choice; there was only one way for her to go now. She quickly strapped the lamp and the wolf mask to her sides.

“Come on…”

Cerise took a step forward, into the direction of the voice that called out. She headed down memory lane.


End file.
